The 98 is cheaper then the 97 and seems like the logical choice, just wondering if I am missing anything with the 98 over 97. How much ballast (if any) can you hide in the rear locker. The colours of the 98 arent my preference but i was going to use the money i save not having to buy a tower and racks etc., to possibly get a boat wrap down the track. Anyone offer any input? seems obvious to go with the 98 doesnt it? the 98 is 13k and the 97 is 13.5k, is this pretty good price on them?

Very good. I traded in my 93 Sport for a little bit under those prices. I believe that they have different hulls. My understanding was that 93-97 was the same hull used for 2001-2006 Super Air nautiques. So you could weight it down and it would just get better and better. I also remember reading that the 98-2000 hulls were a little hard to control. I'm hoping someone chimes in and knows for sure. I loved the 93, solid as a rock

thanks for that info. So is the 97 hull actually better then the 98 hull for wakeboarding? The other option is to hang out for a 99 pro air. I know they have a bad wrap, just trying to get best wake boat for the $$. The 97 doesnt have tower but has bimini and well kept. Where can you hide ballast in the 97, there are no lockers or anything.

make sure you give the 98 a shot. the redesigned 98 w/storage locker is quite a bit nicer boat than the 97. you are correct, there is no place to store in the 97. the 98 has the rear locker which you can probably get 600-800 lbs in coupled with the center locker makes for a decent wake. as far as the hull being different, not true. they changed the deck but the hull was largely unchanged.

the GT40 is the much better engine no doubt. however, there really is nothing wrong with the 5.8ho carb.

i have an 01 pro air. it is a nice boat overall. the wake is better than the 97 or 98 sports. not sure why the boat gets a bad rap. the only thing i don't like is the boat has more bow rise than a sport.

Any difference in the condition of the interiors? The 97 has the pros of the better motor and a better color scheme (the teal is likely to be dated faster). The 98 has lower hours, and while 123 hours isn't that big in the scheme of things, it is more than 3 seasons of use based on how those boats were used. Also, what kind of tower, racks, etc. is on the 98? If it isn't good stuff, you may end up replacing it down the road.

XXlair is the first person I've heard say the Pro Air has a nicer wake than the sports. I did a lot of research when looking for boats a few years ago and I had my I on a nice looking Pro Air that was fairly close by. Consensus was to look for a sport for a better wake? Not firsthand experience here, just info I gathered from others.

Definitely go with the '97. It is the same hull (rubrail down) as the super sport and super air up until '06. In '98, the sport hull changed.

Not sure where you are and if you are able to stretch your budget any but I came across this super sport with tower in Austin for $19K. Considering that it is winter you might be able to get this down in the 16K range with a serious cash offer.

If your not pressed for time, keep a lookout for super sports. If you're worried about space in a sport, you will much appreciate the v-drive. They can be had in your price range with a little bit of looking. They are just few and far between and have to keep you eyes peeled. I remember when I was looking before I picked up my '03 SANTE coming across a 1995 super sport for $13000 without trailer. That was three years ago.

Good luck with the search. Thats half of the fun...searching and buying the boat. The other half is when you sell it

Floor room is over rated... lol! This is what my roommate and I do when its just the 2 of us in the cove. You cant see the 550lb sac in the bow, and there is also 300lbs of lead under the back seat. Good times!

Im in queenland, in a outback mining town. I checked that 99 air nautique in the post above with 700 hours. The upholstery all needs replacing, its ripped to bits. The trailer also looks a bit rough which is not good for importing. I like that sanger, they just seem to much smaller then the nautiques for some reaosn.

There is no real differnce between the interiors of the 98 and 97, one is green and white the other is just white. Its that deep forest green, all the links are expired to both boats on craiglist so i cant link them. They both good condition. I cant really stretch my budget much further its already at its max.I think i would be happy with a Direct drive its just finding the right one at the moment. Still waiting to here bcak from both boats so its taking its sweet time getting anything done on it.Im ready to buy basically just want to get mech. inspection done.

Getting a mechanical inspection on the 97 on the 30th, so if she comes up apples then I think I will buy it. So is there anywhere at all basically to store ballast in the 97, no way to get it under floor somehow? Maybe some under seat and some under bow? and centrelocker somehow?? I dont mind having to throw one or two sacks in but would prefer not. Just wanted to install a fully automated one with pumps etc to empty and fill the flick of a switch.

I think this boat has a ski locker. You can put a sack in there. You can get the flyhigh bow sac and put it under the seats in the bow. As for the back seat, you could see how much lead weight you can get back there. You are going to want to run at lest a 540lb sack on each side of the motor box. Its a Nautique, so unless you like hitting a wall for a wake, they don't need a ton of weight in the back.

thanks, its 97 so doesnt have rear locker. I was thinking more under the seat then anything for the back, somehow making it fit. I have seen old supras with sacks built under the seat but think the nautique seats are a bit lower. So you can hardwire one of those triangular bow sacks in the bow, possibly hardwire something under the back seat and isnt there a centre locker in front of engine? Can you fit anything in there? How much do those bow sacks hold?

If the bow is the same as the super sport, which I think it is, you can get a triangle bow sac from fly high that holds 1000lbs of water. you probably won't be able to fill it all the way, but it will do the trick. By locker I meant the ski locker in front of the motor box. You should be able to get 500lbs in that. Our 94 malibu echelon, we run twin 540s on the side of the motor box, 500 in the bow, and we have 300lbs of lead under our back seat. If there are only a few of us going out, we throw a 300lb sack on the back seat, otherwise we just use people weight. My old 1988 ski nautique 2001 we ran 300lbs in the bow, 2 540s on the side of the motor box, and 350 in the back if i didn't have people back there. nautiques don't need that much weight to make the wake sick. I would put 2 540s on the side of the motor box, 400-500 in the bow, and see how you like it. Add weight to the back if needed. The wake on a nautique is steep so you can mellow it out by putting less in the back.

In our 93 Sport, I plumbed in a system using manual ball valves and a reversable jabsco pump. It would fill 4 sacks in about 15-20 minutes and drain roughly the same. I had...

Ski locker (mid-ship) ~ 500 Tube sac under passenger seat to the nose ~ 500 Walk way sac ~ 450 Sac between motor box and seat ~ 500-600 (made it impossible to open motor box if trouble happened, but never had a problem)

So over all I had roughly 2000 lbs with only a walkway sac and the rear sac visible. It worked well because we liked to keep the walkways on either side of the engine open, felt more roomy that way. Plus it left the backseat open so we had a good place to watch and just to hang out. If it was just 2-3 of us I would also but another 400 lbs sac on top of the back seat. That set up with 5-6 people, sitting mostly on the floor and in the bow and it was big... but more importantly it was rock solid. For a nautique it actually had a really nice transition and a ton of pop off the top. We found this the best way to set up weight for our preferences. Ideally there should be a sac covering every square inch of floor space, but that was unreasonable for having a 1 yr old on board, in our eyes.

Thanks for the info, sounds pretty good to me. I like that I can probably hide a fair bit in the bow and some in the ski locker and then just get 1 or 2 other to move around. How do you go about weighting for surfing, ive never surfed before so not sure how much weight u need for that.

depending on what side you want to surf, only fill the side sack on the side you want the surf wake, put a sack in the back, everyone on that side of the boat, drive about 8ish mph or what ever speed the wake looks sweet at. You just gotta play with it.

Ok Guys got the mechanical inspection on the 97 done today, this was the report basically.

ALL ACC. WORK ALL OF THE LIGHTS WORK MOTOR IS VERY CLEAN THE BELTS NEED TO BE REPLACED STEERING FEELS GOOD 568 HRS ON THE MOTOR THE HORN IS WEAK THE BILGE PUMP WORKS FINE THE BLOWER WORKS THERE IS ONE SPOT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT THAT THE GEL COAT IS SCRATCHED TO THE FIBERGLASS THE MOTOR AND TRANS NEED TO BE SERVICED COMP. TEST 2-152 PSI 1-150 PSI 4-150 PSI 3-152 PSI 6-152 PSI 5-150 PSI 8-153 PSI 7-153 PSI THE TRAILER NEEDS THE BEARINGS RE-PACKED AND NEW SEALS AND A JACK

Whats everyones thoughts, my only real concern was the motor and that seems fine other then the belts. Do you think I should push the owner to get these little things done, or try bargain my offer down because of some of them. I also know that the impeller needs replacing and that the boats due for a service. Any help much appreciated, this is the boat im looking at, its got air nautique decals but is a sport. No tower or anything and is 13.5k. Is this an ok deal or should I keep looking, ive paid for the mech. inspection and I think other then a few details its good.

ok now i have dilemma. I made an offer a week or so ago for 13k which was fine, then I also need the boat taken from napa to long beach, so i added an extra $500 to the deal. The boat was originally put for sale for 14500. He is saying he cant take it to long beach for 500, but 1000. He told me when i made my offer that 13k was best he could do and that was if i paid him for transport because he would be cheaper then any freight company i get. Well the freight company was 400...I added 100 for his troubles and now this. What are your thoughts? He is saying its that the NADA value if 15100, but there are 98, 99 pro airs goes for the same price. What should i do, i like the boat but I have given offers and gotten offers back. He has also said price as is whereis is 13k so i think just get importer to do transport.

So let me get this straight, he'll only sell for 13K if you have him take it for you. You tell him that you offer is for the 13k & if he wants to make the extra 500 for towing it fine or else the freight company will do it for you. as you know he's trying to milk you out of more money, Unless you have to have that boat tell him that your offer stands & that you have two other deals that your were working on at the same price range. But his deal was the first one in line..( Don't up sell the other boats, Just say that it comes down to the price difference ) You will still have the added cost for adding a tower, speakers,Racks, ETC... I hate when people do stuff like that.

yeh, thats basically what i did. The price is 13k, and i will organise my own freight, or if he can take it for 500 thats fine. Ok dont know if anyone would know but im trying to suss out how the handover will go. The pink slips you get from the DMV in the states, is this the title transfer form?? I need to know how i actually transfer the boat into my name.

Some states have titles & some only registrations ( Pink slips). You need to check with a importer that handles that type of stuff. ( I'm sure you already have) Is it better to have it in your name before you ship over?

I would think so. Shouldnt be to hard to manage anyways. I have secured it and now just gotta go through the paper trail. cheers for all the help guys, im sure i will have some more questions/problems that i will resort to the forum for.

sticking with RO/RO, no delays...must have only been for container ships. I think NZ will be different for the forms, ive got everything sussed now the importer has sent me through everything I need now just waiting on pics of the trailer vin plates and boat ID. I think container is to small, I want to keep the trailer its on and because its within Australian limits for trailers it wont need structural mods other then the lights, hitch and possibly brakes. Im told my boat doing the freight will not be stopping in NZ. Really dont think it would be 2K USD, ive got 5 different quotes from importers none of them below 5K, that is for containers. Dont they tilt the trailers to fit them and also sometimes mod them before hand to fit them

i brought a sanger v210 and my shipping will be under US2k. i also looked at the sport nautique and prostar 205 before making the decision. they typically remove the axles and sometimes tilt them on an angle. they will also remove the guards. a container is 93" wide so they wouldnt need to with a sport nautique. when they land the shipping company will put the axles back on.

the form was an american bill of sale form.

how much was it for roll on roll off? id rather have a better boat than better shipping personally, but keen to hear how you get on with it as i may look to buy a boat that cant fit in a container in due course

Does anyone know where i can get a 97 sport nautqiue manual. I have got one for the 98 air and 97 ski but i need the details for the 97.

Was 6ish k for the RO/RO, going out of California, this includes everything except import tax. the trailer is 98 inches, so would need some modification i think. 2k is extremely cheap I havent heard of anyone getting it for that cheap even in a container, if thats the final cost and there are no suprises thats a great deal. I hope it goes well and theres no problems, as i hope for mine aswell.

ive already pretty much committed to buying the nautique, shy of paying for it. He had decent enough sales ethics to give me first shot at it so I wont back out of the deal. I would need to get a mech check on the 205 plus for that price theres gotta be somethen wrong, probably ripped upolstery or neglect, u cant even find the direct drive 1999 205 for under 16000 usually. I emailed him anyway for some new pics just to see what the deal is, if mine falls through then maybe i will persue this one. I know if someone was so close to buying my boat and i had gone to trouble of taking it for check for them, arranging transport, taking photos of plates etc etc then i wouldnt be to happy if they dropped out....thats just me.